The 2025 film “Marty Supreme,” starring Timothée Chalamet as Marty Mauser, has garnered a lot of interest over the past few weeks. Sports biopics are nothing new and are predominantly a genre which encourages the pursuit of some seemingly unattainable dream, where the audience roots for an underdog working towards his goal of dominating his field. “Marty Supreme” however, differs from the majority of films within this genre. The protagonist is not established as being a highly likable individual, and he does not achieve the goal the audience expects. By the finale of the film, the typical idea of the American dream in a sports biopic is subverted.
On the surface, “Marty Supreme” seems like a simple sports biopic, covering a lesser-known sports icon in the underappreciated sport of table tennis. This in and of itself is an interesting premise, especially considering the abundance of sports movies featuring known athletes in popular sports. What makes “Marty Supreme” truly different, however, is its admittance that this pursuit is inherently flawed. The subject matter was seemingly used as a framework for approaching and understanding the notorious American dream, which has been brought into question in recent years but was highly prevalent in the 20th century. Taking place in the mid-1900s, the film focuses on a man who’s down on his luck but happens to be in the perfect position to achieve the American dream. And while it wasn’t necessarily the main aspect of Marty’s identity, it was important that he was a lower middle-class Jewish-American man living in a post-WWII New York City. This meant many things, but most importantly, that he was the perfect candidate for the ultimate achievement of the American dream.
We follow Marty as he works against setback after setback, aiming to find a way to Japan to avenge his initial loss against the Japanese ping-pong player Endo. Marty’s lack of connections to those better off than himself was apparent, especially considering the clear skill level that he possessed and how it was not enough to get him to where he seemingly deserved to be. This fact already brings into question for the audience the feasibility of the American dream, although they might have the expectation that it’ll all work out eventually. Of course, at the end of the film, we see with certainty that Marty fails in his original goal of beating Endo in the World Championships, though not due to a lack of skill or ambition.
What could have been an unobscured message criticizing the American dream, however, was not as such, seeing as much of Marty’s failure stemmed from his inability to put his ego aside and play nice with those around him. These nuances allow for different audience members to derive different messages from the story, which also makes for a more realistic story overall, where there isn’t one clear cause and effect. Doing so recognizes not only the fallibility of the American dream itself, but also how it impacts the character of those exposed to it. While not stated explicitly, it’d be reasonable to assume much of Marty’s insistence on pursuing ping-pong stems from being surrounded by the concept of the American dream: that if you’re the best at something, work hard and never give up, you’ll achieve your dreams, no matter what they may be. This belief results in cockiness and self-assuredness that lead to Marty putting himself and others in dangerous positions. This idea is a prevalent one in protagonists of many biopics, with the downsides often ignored. We are quick to accept the character flaws of those deemed successful, with the detriments pushed to the side. This can be compared to the protagonist in a similar sports biopic, “Eddie the Eagle,” which also features a lesser-known athlete in an underappreciated sport. The main difference between the two films, however, is that Marty is much less likable, more manipulative and more selfish. On the contrary, Eddie is pursuing his dream for nothing else other than love of the sport and believing in himself. Along with that, Eddie achieves the goal he set in the beginning of the film, despite that goal not aligning with the audience’s expectations.
In its final portion, “Marty Supreme” strays from the typical sports biopic paradigm by showing that even though Marty endured both successes and failures in his endeavor to be the best —ultimately crashing down due to his poor behavior — none of that truly mattered. In the end, what was most important was the birth of his son. The most emotion we see from the man is upon seeing his child for the first time with the cacophony of cries permeating the hospital. This ending makes the film even more interesting when viewed through a lens of questioning the American dream. One could easily watch this film and take away the belief that the American dream of the nuclear family is a strong and admirable one, whereas another could say that love is more important than the pursuit of success. In this way, “Marty Supreme” raises interesting questions surrounding the American dream and the highly encouraged pursuit of monetary success, fame and proving your ability over all else.